The Let’s Go Austin Political Action Committee, formed to campaign for Austin’s November rail and roads bond proposition, will formally kick off its campaign Wednesday with a noon rally on the plaza at Austin City Hall. Let’s Go Austin campaign manager Lynda Rife said the event is the beginning of a three-month effort to educate voters about Proposition 1. The November bond proposal totals $1 billion, with $600 million dedicated to the first phase of the urban rail system and $400 million dedicated to major road projects, a new Austin Traffic Command Center, and engineering studies for future road fixes and expansion of the urban rail system. Council members, business leaders and others are scheduled to speak at the PAC event Wednesday. Early voting for the Nov. 4 election begins Oct. 20.

The city’s Ethics Review Commission and the League of Women Voters of the Austin Area are co-hosting a series of public City Council candidate forums in September, as well as a forum for mayoral candidates in October. All candidates for mayor and each of Austin’s 10 geographic districts have been invited to participate. The dates, times and locations are: District 1, Sept. 4, 7:30 p.m. at Asian-American Resource Center, 8401 Cameron Road; Districts 4 and 7, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Northwest Recreation Center, 2913 Northland Drive; Districts 6 and 10, Sept. 15 at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Hope Presbyterian Church, 11512 Olson Drive; Districts 5 and 8, Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Austin Community College, 1820 W. Stassney Lane; District 9, Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. at Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road; Districts 2 and 3, Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Montopolis Recreation Center, 1200 Montopolis Drive; mayor, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. at Austin Convention Center, 500 East Cesar Chavez St. The forums will be televised live on ATXN (Channel 6) and rebroadcast and webcast on the city’s website. For questions, email lwvaustin@lwvaustin.org.

The International Association of Fire Chiefs has named Chief Chris Barron of the Manchaca Volunteer Fire Department as the 2014 winner of the Fire Chief of the Year awards. Barron has served as volunteer fire chief of Manchaca Fire/Rescue and executive director of the State Firemen’s and Fire Marshal’s Association of Texas, both since 2006. As Manchaca Fire/Rescue chief, Barron has led the department’s transition from an all-volunteer to a combination department, serving an area of 12 square miles and a population of more than 17,000 during a period of rapid growth. Winners are selected by a committee appointed by the association and are honored for their dedication and leadership in fire and emergency services. The IAFC will present the annual award Thursday at the 2014 Fire-Rescue International conference in Dallas.

Eight more sanitarians and support staff will soon turn out to inspect Austin restaurants for health violations. According to Carlos Rivera, director of Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services, national standards call for each “fixed food establishment” to receive two inspections a year. Austin’s restaurants are only logging about 1.6, in part because the number of restaurants has jumped 12 percent since 2009. So HHS is allotting $900,000 of its proposed $73 million budget in fiscal year 2015 in order to boost that rate, Rivera told the City Council at Wednesday’s budget work session. He told them that the city’s food poisoning rates aren’t clear, since many cases go unreported.

At the end of their discussion about the city’s Health and Human Services budget, City Council members briefly touched upon a proposition by the group One Voice Central Texas
to increase that department’s social service contracting budget by $15 million. Council Member Laura Morrison brought up their proposal, which points out that the city is not keeping up with the social service demands. Mayor Lee Leffingwell said the prospect of that increase made his eyes bug out. Kathie Tovo asked for more information from staff about whether the idea was workable. “I’m compelled that there is a really dramatic need in this community to increase those services,” said Tovo.  That work, according to staff, has already begun. The proposed Heath and Human Services Department budget is currently $52.2 million. One Voice Central Texas is a coalition that was established in 1983. It is made up of more than 80 heath and human services nonprofits. Morrison said the group is planning on discussing their plan at this week’s Public Health and Human Services Committee meeting.

Austin native and community advocate Paul Saldaña has announced he will file today to run for the District 6 seat on the Austin Independent School District board. Saldaña has more than 20 years of experience in civic and governmental affairs. He has served on the board of directors for the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; as an assistant and staff member for former Mayor Gus Garcia; as Tri-Chair, Austin ISD Community Committee on Neighborhoods & Schools; and as Tri-Chair, Austin ISD Superintendent’s Task Force on Strategic Plan Review. He is currently a board member of the RBJ Geriatric Center and the National Council of La Raza and owns his own public relations firm, Saldaña Public Relations.

On Wednesday, Montopolis resident Stefan Wray filed a complaint with the Ethics Review Commission against District 3 candidate Susana Almanza. His complaint states that in Almanza’s July 15 campaign finance report, 23 individuals who contributed $250 or more to Almanza’s campaign were not identified by occupation or employer, which is a violation of city code. In a news release, Wray explained that he decided to keep a close watch on Almanza’s campaign after a copy of La Voz listed several campaign treasurers from other districts as Almanza supporters. “I decided to file this complaint not because I want to bring financial harm to Almanza and her campaign,” said Wray. “However, I think that Almanza’s lack of attention to detail should send a signal to voters about her capacity to run city government.” When asked for comment, Almanza told the Austin Monitor that the omissions were an error and had been corrected. She pointed out that errors will happen, especially in a field of candidates who may be new to politics, as evidenced by a handful of other candidates in City Council races who had made the same mistake. Almanza said her campaign had clearly been targeted by Wray.

The end of business Monday is the deadline for City Council candidates to file paperwork to get their name on the November ballot. Forms must be filed in the City Clerk’s office at City Hall by 5 p.m. to reserve a place on the ballot for mayor or one of the 10 Council District seats. As of Thursday afternoon, a number of people had filed their paperwork this week, including Todd Phelps in the mayor’s race; DeWayne Lofton and Valerie Menard in District 1; Fred McGee and Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla in District 3; Daniel Buda and Jason Denny in District 5; Mackenzie Kelly and Don Zimmerman in District 6; Pete Salazar Jr. in District 7; Darrell Pierce in District 8; Chris Riley in District 9; and Mandy Dealey in District 10. So far, about 40 of the approximately 90 candidates who filed Campaign Treasurer forms have signed up to get on the ballot. Expect a crowd of candidates Monday at City Hall. The Nov. 4 election will decide the city’s first 10-1 District City Council, or at least the top two candidates in most districts. The runoff election is Dec. 16.

In Austin Resource Recovery director Bob Gedert’s report to the Zero Waste Advisory Committee on Wednesday night, he noted that waste composition studies indicate 40 to 45 percent of the city’s recycling materials are glass or trash. Gedert said, “I don’t think we’re capturing as much paper and paper fiber from the households as what we could, and if the paper fiber was at its proper level of capture in the blue carts, the percentage of glass would be lower. I don’t think the glass numbers are up there because we’re heavier drinkers. I think that’s (just) the common explanation.” Austin was recently named one of the country’s heaviest drinking cities in a national survey.

Not necessarily by popular demand, but the drought is back at the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer. The aquifer board voted Thursday night to call a Stage II drought alert for the aquifer, which after heavy winter and spring rains had been at normal (Stage I) until late June. The aquifer’s two drought triggers — the Lovelady well in Hays County and the flow meter at Barton Springs — have fallen below the normal levels in the past two weeks. Stage II means that commercial water customers must reduce the amount of water they pump by 20 percent until the restriction is lifted. The Barton Springs move comes on the heels of the Edwards Aquifer Authority in San Antonio declaring Stage IV conditions on the entire Edwards Aquifer, meaning its commercial customers must reduce their pumping by 40 percent until further notice.

Brett Spicer of the Travis County Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Association and James Hodge of the Travis County Sheriff’s Officers Association told Travis County Commissioners Wednesday they need a pay raise for the department’s least experienced officers. They explained how much more the Austin Police Department pays its officers than Travis County does and concluded by asking for a $4 million increase to the budget. However, a member of the county’s budget staff said the overall increase would actually be about $5.7 million for all of the county’s peace officers. County Judge Sam Biscoe said he recognized the need for a pay raise for those officers but it was not clear exactly how much they might get. Also Wednesday, four citizens came to the court to ask that the budget for Sheriff Greg Hamilton receive no increase so long as he continues to participate in the Secure Communities Program with federal immigration authorities. There have been numerous protests by lawyers and rights groups in recent months over the controversial program, which places “immigration holds” on some prisoners after they complete their sentence.

The six major Texas urban counties, including Travis, are pushing for increased funding and access to health care coverage for low-income earners during the interim. County judges from Bexar, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Tarrant and Travis sent the state’s Health and Human Services Committee a letter detailing the fiscal burden indigent health care places on county governments throughout the state. Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), whose sprawling 21st District includes parts of Travis and Hays counties, is on the HHS committee. The letter states that the Health Care Treatment Act of 1985 mandates all counties lacking a public hospital or hospital district must provide health care for impoverished residents. This costs up to 8 percent of a county’s general tax levy, and urban counties with high populations must continue to provide health care even if the cost exceeds 8 percent of the tax levy, the letter states. Travis County spent $270 million in the 2011 Fiscal Year on indigent health care. Overall, private and public providers throughout the state spend $4 billion a year on uncompensated care. In 2012, the Kaiser Foundation reported that Texas was last in the nation, with 24 percent of its residents without health insurance.